An occasional glimpse into the workings of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive (or comments on anything else that takes my fancy).

20 January 2016

Cheers!

The constant admonitions to reduce our booze intake appear to be having little effect. The Guardianreports:

Soaring sales of sparkling wine, beer and gin at bargain prices helped supermarkets to a much happier than expected Christmas, figures show.

Total sales of beer, wine and spirits rose 2.2% across the grocery market in the three months to 3 January, according to analysts at Kantar Worldpanel, boosted by an 11% increase in sales of sparkling wines.

Sales were driven by bargain prices, with 16 out of the top 20 spirits cheaper than a year earlier, according to Nielsen. The market research group said the grocers had used discounts to pull in shoppers.

Sales of gin in the major supermarkets rose by more than £14m to £121m, making it the fastest growing spirit, followed by cream liqueurs, including Bailey’s Original, which was on offer at Asda and Morrisons, Nielsen said. But the researchers also marked out sparkling wine as the standout category, with nearly 16% more bottles sold as prices fell.